Rickmers-Linie New Superflex Heavy MPC Ship

Rickmers-Linie has celebrated the naming of Rickmers Seoul - one of nine new Superflex Heavy MPC vessels - on Thursday, April 22, 2004 at Pier No. 4 in Masan, South Korea. Mrs Kim Yoon-Ok, wife of the Mayor of its namesake city Seoul, acted as sponsor of the vessel.

South Korea plays an important role as one of the major industrial centres in the Far East and consequently Rickmers-Linie vessels call regularly at Korean ports on their rotation within the Round-The-World Pearl String Service. To mark the importance of South Korea for this service, it was decided that one of the new vessels shall bear the name of the capital of the country. Rickmers Seoul was launched in Shanghai in August 2002 and delivered by the shipyard on 22 April 2003. After a westbound positioning voyage, the vessel was phased into the Round-The-World Pearl String Service in May 2003 and is now calling Masan on its third eastbound circumnavigation. Rickmers Seoul is one of two vessels that were built by Shanghai Shipyard. In total the series comprises nine new ships, which were all constructed by Chinese shipyards. Like her eight sister vessels, Rickmers Seoul is equipped with flexible tweendecks, dehumidifying devices in all holds and heavy-lift capacity of up to 640 tons. The formal naming ceremony, during which the vessels' sponsor, Mrs Kim Yoon-Ok let a champagne bottle successfully crash on the ships' hull, was followed by guided tours onboard for the guests, giving the opportunity of an inside view of the ship, its layout and capabilities. The day was concluded with a gala dinner at the Hotel International in Masan, hosting more than 100 guests, mainly customers and business partners of Rickmers-Linie in South Korea.

With Rickmers Seoul now officially named, only the last vessel of the series, Rickmers Genoa, which was delivered to her owners on 15 March 2004, remains to be christened. That is due to be celebrated on 12 May in Genoa, Italy. With the phasing-in of Rickmers Genoa, the fleet of the Superflex Heavy MPC vessels for the fortnightly Round-the-World Pearl String Service is now complete and ready to serve project-, heavylift-, and breakbulk cargo customers.